Raikkonen is Fastest in FP2

There was no sign of rain as Raikkonen and the two Red Bulls set the three fastest times in a hot FP2. The session started quietly, with Pastor Maldonado, Max Chilton, and Kimi Raikkonen some of the first on track. There were a few early tire lockups, some of which resulted in a few runoffs. Maldonado missed in Turn 11 and Chilton slid out of Turn 4. None of these runoffs resulted in serious incidents.

Alonso, Webber, Massa, and Hamilton started the morning at the top of the time charts. As the session wore on, Hamilton’s times did not improve and he ended the day in P10, nearly a second slower than Raikkonen. Alonso, Webber, and Massa did improve their times. In FP2 of his 200th grand prix, Webber was able to drive his Red Bull to P2.

Just over thirty minutes in, Esteban Gutierrez provided the excitement for the day. As he was entering turn 8 inside of Charles Pic’s Caterham, his left front tire went down. Early speculation was a puncture from contact. The two drivers were able to avoid what could have been serious contact and Gutierrez limped back to the pits.

The rest of the session was still quiet, with a few more minor tire lockups. The top seven on the chart were covered by less than half a second with the top four within two-tenths. Paul di Resta was able to place his Force India in P5, while both Mercedes were low in the top 10. Rosberg and Perez laid down the most laps at 37, while Mark Webber ran the fewest with 26 laps.